


the paths are getting steep (but even so we still see)

by transkylo (captainandor)



Series: when you know, you know [2]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Family, M/M, Slice of Life, weird gay brother dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 10:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8664622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainandor/pseuds/transkylo
Summary: “Merry Christmas eve,” he says, leaning in to kiss Aaron on the mouth. Here’s to many more, Aaron thinks, kissing back.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artemris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemris/gifts).



> Because who cares about what's currently happening in canon when you can imagine your faves having some festive winter fun, instead?
> 
> unedited as usual because that's how I roll
> 
> this can be read as a standalone or as a sequel-of-sorts to my previous fic; november

“Liv, it’s November,” Aaron’s voice, though muffled by the door, is unmistakably exasperated. Robert smiles to himself as he shuts the door, shrugging his jacket off in the warmth. There’s something comforting about returning to the familiar bickering between siblings, though he doubts that they’d agree. 

“Yeah,” Liv’s saying, when Robert opens the door into the living room, “But it wouldn’t be _open_ now if they didn’t want people to go.” She has her arms folded over her chest, a mirror of Aaron’s own posture, even as they stand on opposite sides of the room. Robert feels like he’s walked in on the middle of a duel. 

They both turn to look at him. He lifts his eyebrows, “What have I missed?” 

Aaron rubs a hand across his face, “It’s nothing,” he says, then, aimed at Liv, “Leave it,” 

“Is not!” she protests, “Aaron won’t let me go to the Christmas market.”

Robert shuts the door behind him, leaning back against the wood, “Why not?” 

Liv immediately looks smug, and Aaron tosses his hands up into the air. “You’re supposed to be the strict one, mate, not me,” he complains. 

Opting to ignore this, Robert turns back to Liv, “Where is the market?” 

“In town. Gabby already went, they’ve got the lights on and everything, but this one here says it’s too early to go,”

“Well I don’t see why, Christmas is only a month away,”

Liv grins. She pushes herself up to standing and grabs her coat from the arm of the sofa. “You’re alright sometimes,” she says as she passes him, which is as good a compliment he knows he’s going to get from her. The door shuts, and he’s left with Aaron’s scathing look. 

“What?” 

“You,” Aaron says, shaking his head as he crosses the room to meet his fiancé in the middle. He catches Robert by the lapels of his coat and leans in to kiss him. It’s the first time he’s seen Aaron in a couple of days – he’s been away at meetings and a tedious conference, and aside from the occasional text during the day when Aaron’s not been busy with his own work, it’s been silent. 

“I missed you,” Robert says instead of replying, and Aaron’s lip quirks up at the corner even as he kisses him again. 

“Sap,” Aaron teases, stepping away and heading for the kitchen, “Brew?” he asks, and Robert nods, collapsing down onto the familiar comfort of the living room sofa. He’s been rushed off his feet these past few days. He’s just glad to be home, even if he has walked right into the middle of some dispute over a Christmas Market. 

Robert hears water being poured, the fridge being opened and then closed, and then a moment later Aaron reappears with two mugs, setting them down on the coffee table before taking his own place next to Robert. 

“So,” Robert says, “That market,” 

“Don’t start,” Aaron shakes his head, taking a careful sip of his tea. 

“Don’t be a scrooge,” Robert says, prodding Aaron with his foot, “It could be fun. At least Liv _wants_ to do this, which beats her arguing with you over going out to the cinema,” 

“Since when did you get into the Christmas spirit anyway?” Aaron says, squinting. 

Robert shifts, “There may have been some Christmas CDs on at the conference,” 

Aaron rolls his eyes. 

“But c’mon, you’re the one who’s always complaining that we never do things together, and Liv wants to go,” he pouts, doing his best to look pleading even as Aaron goes about his business, drinking his tea and plucking a car magazine from the top of the pile in the middle of the coffee table. Robert straightens the stack, hating the way Aaron just drops them haphazardly atop one another at his backside. 

In fact, he thinks, even as he continues to look at them, car magazines shouldn’t even be out on the table – they should be stored away in a box or a drawer. It’s not a fight he can be bothered picking right now, though. 

“Are you just ignoring me now,” Robert presses, turning to the side so that he’s facing his fiancé, who’s doing a remarkably good job of acting as if the contents page of his magazine is the most interesting thing he’s ever laid eyes on. 

“I’m reading, thanks,” Aaron says. 

Robert watches Aaron flicking through a few pages, then huffs a laugh, “Yeah, right. Half-naked women perched artfully on car bonnets is _so_ your thing, innit,”

Aaron snaps the magazine shut. “What do you want, Rob,”

“What?” Robert asks, voice softening as his forehead creases in a frown, “What’ve – have I done something?”

“No – sorry,” Aaron sighs, punching the bridge of his nose, “Just – Liv’s been on at me all day and we had a tricky client in this morning. I was hoping – once you got home – we could just have a quiet night.” 

Robert takes Aaron’s hand in both of his own, rubs his thumbs in circles over Aaron’s knuckles, “Okay,” he says. 

“What, that’s it?” Aaron frowns, “You’re gonna drop it,” 

Robert shrugs a shoulder, “For now, yeah. I’ll talk to Liv later, we can maybe do something this weekend,” he leans in to press a kiss to Aaron’s temple, “But she’s out, and it’s just you and me. We can get a curry or something – watch one of your DVD’s, yeah?” 

Aaron’s answering smile is a small, tentative thing, and he leans in to kiss Robert on the lips. “Alright,” he says, “You don’t have anything on today?” 

“Nothing more important than this, no,” 

Aaron bumps him in the shoulder, “Sap,” he says, again, but it’s fond, and Robert just pulls him closer.

*** 

“Liv!” Aaron yells up from the bottom of the stairs, car keys dangling impatiently from between his fingers. He’s wrapped up in his warmest coat, scarf, and beanie hat, looking like he’s about to go on an expedition to the Antarctic, rather than into town for a Christmas market.

“Gimme a minute!” his sister yells back down during a pause in the noise of things banging around. It sounds like she’s opening and slamming nearly all of her drawers. Aaron sighs and crosses his arms, glancing back over his shoulder at Robert who’s waiting impatiently by the door, checking his watch. 

A moment later, Liv appears at the top of the stairs, swaddled in layers of scarves. She nearly hobbles her way down, grinning up at Aaron from beneath her hat when she reaches the landing. “I had to find my gloves,” she says, wiggling her fingers in his face to demonstrate. They’re green, and sparkly. Aaron isn’t sure what’s so special about them, but he shrugs anyway and ushers her towards the door with a firm hand on her back. 

“Alright, finally. We’re running late,” 

“It’s open until midnight?” Liv protests, even as Aaron and Robert shut the door behind them and make their way through the pub to the front. Chas gives them a wave as they pass. 

“Yeah,” Aaron says, opening the front door for his sister and fiancé to step through, “But this is Rob we’re talking about. He has a time schedule,”

Robert glares at him as they get into the car. 

“Weirdo,” Liv mutters, clicking her seatbelt into place. 

“I’m gonna ignore that,” Robert says, looking over his shoulder at her as Aaron starts driving, the streetlights casting orange light and black shadow across the three of them through the windows as they pass, heading out of the village and onto the dark country roads that take them towards the town. 

Liv just smiles at him. 

The drive into town doesn’t take much time, especially not with Aaron’s driving, and it’s not long until they’re pulling into a parking space in front of a row of bright Christmas lights, obnoxious music blaring from speakers somewhere, loud enough to be heard through the car windows. 

Aaron kills the engine and they get out of the car, stepping into the cold evening air. It’s crisp and fresh, and the sky is clear. 

“Alright,” he says, rubbing his hands together, “This is your evening, Liv. Lead the way,” 

She beams and allows him to ruffle her hair, before falling into step with Robert behind her as she picks her way along the icy pavement towards the attractions. It smells like Christmas – chocolate and cinnamon, and despite the chill she feels warm inside. Happy. 

A quick glance behind her confirms that her brother and Robert are still following relatively close behind, and so she leads them straight over to one of the German style huts serving up cups of hot chocolate and mulled wine. There are barrels serving as makeshift tables, and fairy lights strung up all around. 

“Hot chocolate, please,” Liv says, handing over a ten pound note she’d stolen from Robert’s wallet earlier that day, “And two beers, for these two,” 

The man behind the counter gives her a look for the beer order, but shrugs when he sees Aaron and Robert coming to a stop behind her anyway, and turns away to make the drinks up. If Robert notices that she’s paid with money she shouldn’t have, he says nothing. 

“One hot chocolate,” the man says, sliding the cup over to her waiting hands, “And two beers. Eight pounds, ta,” 

“Cheers,” Aaron says, taking his beer from her. They crowd round one of the barrels, huddling for warmth, and he lifts his drink as he looks between the two of them, “Merry Christmas, eh,” he says.

Robert tilts his head to the side, “Thought you weren’t one for being festive yet,”

“Well,” Aaron shrugs, “We’re here now, aren’t we?” 

Robert smiles and bumps their drinks together, before doing the same with Liv’s hot chocolate. “Merry Christmas to you too, then,” 

It’s sweet, and Liv has to hide her smile and the pink threatening to spread across her cheeks by burying her face in her drink. She’s still not used to this, feeling like she belongs somewhere, and it hasn’t always been easy with Aaron and Robert. They fight, and Robert is a nightmare far more often than not, but at the end of the day she doesn’t care. Because he makes Aaron happy, and he feels like an older brother to her, as well. 

She turns her gaze away from the two of them and out to the festivities happening beyond the little hut they’re stood in. There’s an ice rink, a ferris wheel, and plenty more stalls selling everything from leather bound notebooks to tacky tree decorations. 

Robert must notice where her attention’s gone, “What first, then?” he asks, bringing her back to the present moment.

“Dunno,” she says, “What do you do for Christmas ‘round here? Decorations wise, I mean.”

“Oh,” Robert says, looking at Aaron, “I don’t know. Actually,” 

“Well what did you do last year? Or – the year before?” Liv asks, frowning. She knows Robert and Aaron have been on and off, knows that _something_ was going on, when Rob was still married to Chrissie. But not the full extent of it, and besides, he broke up with Chrissie ages ago. 

“Rob wasn’t with me last Christmas,” Aaron fills in, when Robert’s awkward silence continues. 

Liv nudges her hot chocolate around on the barrel. It’ll be their first Christmas together as a family, she realises. “I think I want a tree for my room,” she decides. They’ll decorate it together. Even if Chas and everyone else have a Christmas tradition that her and Robert haven’t been part of in the past, they’ll have this. The three of them. She’ll make sure of it. 

“Well, we can go look at some of the decorations here,” Robert says, looking around, “Though most of them look pretty tacky,”

“I’m fine with tacky,” Liv says, “I live with the two of you, don’t I?” 

“I’m not even going to begin trying to answer that,” Aaron says, setting his empty beer cup down. 

“Good,” Liv nods, downing the last of her hot chocolate in one gulp, the way Aaron sometimes does with a pint after a long day at work, “Let’s go,” 

They make their way through the throngs of people, passing by countless stalls selling cheap, novelty gifts like wooden ties and spinning windchimes, until they reach the first stall selling something resembling nice decorations for a tree. With Robert’s help – Aaron steps back with his hands in the air when she turns to him for advice on colour schemes – she fills a whole basket with baubles and hanging ornaments. Robert even gives her the money to pay for them, without so much as even a scathing look. 

She feels warm all over again as they leave the stall in search of somewhere to find a suitable tree topper. Along the way, they collect a small tree that’s the perfect size for a bedroom, and Aaron hoists it up under his arm to carry. They look a right sight, the two of them, with Robert carrying his wicker basket full of decorations and Aaron with a mini tree under his arm. Liv wishes she’d been able to take a picture of it and use it as the front image on all their greetings cards. 

She settles on a giant star for the top of her tree, a silver one, way more tasteful than the fluffy white monstrosity Aaron was trying to tickle Robert with when he first spotted it. 

Afterwards, they decide to just take a stroll around the market, enjoying the lights, and Liv snapping pictures on her phone of anything that captures her interest. She’s going to print them off later, maybe, make them into a photo garland and give it to Chas as a Christmas present. It’s the least she can do, when Aaron’s mum has let him stay there with them despite everything. 

She turns around to ask about going to look at some more of the lights further down, when she catches her brother and his fiancé holding hands.

It’s the first time Liv’s ever seen them being affectionate in public, as far as she can think. They always manage to give off a _dating_ vibe, even back when she first met the two of them in the park that night, there was something there. But this is a whole different level. Aaron looks completely at ease with Robert. He looks happy. _They look happy_. She doesn’t even think about it, just whips her phone back out of her coat pocket and takes a photo. 

“Right,” she says, drawing their attention, as she tucks the phone safely away again, out of sight, “There’s loads more lights still to see down here, so get a move on, will ya? I’m freezing,”

*** 

Aaron wakes up to the sound of something scratching lightly at his bedroom door. He stirs, head pillowed on the centre of Robert’s chest, and cranes his neck a little. The door is still firmly shut, like they’d left it. He shrugs a little to himself, and lets his head drop back down, ignoring the sleepy groan of protest his fiancé gives at the force.

“G’ back to sleep,” Robert mumbles, turning to brush his lips against Aaron’s forehead as he speaks, “’S too early.” 

A quick glance at the bedside clock tells a different story, but Aaron’s content and comfortable enough to ignore it, and there’s nothing worse than being left alone in a freezing bed in the winter. He snuggles back down under the duvet and lets his eyes slip shut. 

The suspicious noise returns as soon as his breathing starts to even out, and his eyes snap open again. 

He shakes at Robert’s shoulder, and is unceremoniously batted away by a sleepy hand. 

“Rob,” Aaron says, looking back over at the door to see a brown envelope being pushed underneath onto the carpet. Quiet footsteps retreat down the hall, and somewhere, a door shuts over. Aaron frowns, throwing the covers back to slip out of bed and pad across the floor. 

The cold air seems to wake Robert up, because he’s leaning up on an elbow when Aaron turns around with the envelope, rubbing his eyes. 

“What’s that?” he asks, as Aaron shuffles back onto the mattress and tugs the duvet back up. 

“Dunno,” he shrugs, turning it over in his hands. It’s blank on both sides, and glued down on the fold, “It woke me up,” 

Robert pushes his hair back from where it’s plastered to his forehead from sleep, “Well, are you gonna open it?” he asks, curiosity getting the better of him, even when he’s tired. 

Aaron huffs and uses his nail to open it, slipping his fingers inside to pull out a shiny card. He nearly drops it when he sees what’s on the front. It’s a photograph of the two of them at the market. It looks like something out of a movie, stood together under the lights in their hats and scarves, fingers linked together. Robert’s saying something in it, Aaron can’t remember what, but his head is bent low to speak directly into Aaron’s ear. They look happy. He feels a surge of affection when he looks at it, flipping it open to read the inside.

_Aaron & Robert, _

_This is a bit early, but I didn’t think you’d appreciate me giving it to you in front of everyone on Christmas morning. The two of you still make me vom, but this was kind of cute._

_Merry Christmas,_

_Liv_

Aaron can’t help the smile that stretches across his face. “It’s from Liv,” he says, turning to show Robert, “She must’ve taken it on her phone,”

“Bit out of character for her, is it not?” he says, taking it for a look anyway, “What do you reckon she wants?”

Aaron punches at his shoulder, “It’s sweet, shut up,” 

Robert looks down at it for another moment, and then turns to prop it up on the bedside table. When he rolls back onto his side to face Aaron, his eyes are smiling. “Merry Christmas eve,” he says, leaning in to kiss Aaron on the mouth. 

_Here’s to many more_ , Aaron thinks, kissing back.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at aptanstjarna or depressivedingle !


End file.
